


Yellow Roses - Saeran/Male MC - Hanahaki Disease

by MonsieurDandylionMethod



Category: Mystic Messenger (Video Game)
Genre: AU, Anime, Games, M/M, Realistic, Short AU, angsty, hanahaki
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-08-06
Updated: 2017-08-06
Packaged: 2018-12-11 18:44:38
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,668
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11720274
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/MonsieurDandylionMethod/pseuds/MonsieurDandylionMethod
Summary: MC and Saeran are, to be blunt, fuck buddies. Saeran has no idea of MC's feelings for him, and is bewildered when MC suddenly starts coughing up flowers.Is it better to love and never be loved in return, or never love at all?





	1. 1

_The Hanahaki Disease is a (fictional) illness born from one-sided love, where the patient throws up and coughs up lower petals when they suffer from one-sided love. In order to fully recover from the disease, one's love must be returned. The infection can be removed through surgery, but the feelings disappear along with the petals. You can die from this disease by the flower petals blocking your airways and cutting off respiration._

**Saeran: Hey, you free after school?**

**MC: Yeah, want me to come over?**

**Saeran: Yeah**

**MC: 3:30 then?**

**Saeran: As usual. See ya**

MC locked his phone and sighed, staring out his classroom window.

Same old, same old. He remembered learning this shit last year. His parents, however, after seeing his slipping grades the previous spring, forced the school to hold him back for a year. And so now MC sat in a room with students one year younger than him, wishing he could just go home.

_I'm ready to graduate_... MC doodled aimless designs on his blank sheet of lined paper, little flowers and chunky glasses. A beer bottle, a bumblebee, a dog shitting on the word 'Civil' in "Civil War".

Tugging on the neckline of his beige turtleneck sweater, MC looked across the aisle at the new kid, and when the student returned his gaze, MC winked lazily.

The boy blushed slightly and then turned back to his notes, flustered.  _Gaaay..._  MC smiled to himself, mind drifting back to Saeran.

Saeran... The boy was 18, and had met MC the year previous in math class. Hitting it off with metal-band hangouts and depressing talks about space, the two grew closer.

On what was supposed to be graduation day for the two seniors, they got a bit too drunk at a party and ended up having rough sex in the bathroom. The next day, Saeran had texted MC with an apology, but it wasn't long until they hooked up again one day when MC was over and Saeran's place.

It was then that they decided they could have a relationship as friends and what MC now referred to as "fuck buddies" but nothing else. They were best friends, how weird would it be to date.

MC didn't mind the barrier, as long as he could still be close to Saeran, he was happy.

He was having a hard time keeping his feelings down though... he couldn't help it if he loved the taste of Saeran's lips, or the feel of his fingertips trailing down MC's bare back, or when he grinned down at MC with a rare crooked smile, shoving him out the door before his brother got home.

Saeran, of course, was oblivious. MC convinced himself it was better this way, but still couldn't help himself from imagining Saeran and himself in various romantic situations, surprisingly not including sex.

After school was over, MC walked home, dropping off his backpack and telling his mom he was going out, he'd be home in an hour or two, etc.

Hopping on his bike, MC pedaled through the familiar route, the wind ruffling through his hair and making his eyes water.

He'd had sex with Saeran maybe 5 times now, each time reminding himself how intensely gay he actually was.

The bike ride was longer than MC preferred, but he wasn't about to risk the heavy traffic with driving.

Saeran's house was large, even though it was only he and his brother staying there, and Saeran still lived there while attending a local college so he could keep tabs on his twin.

MC liked to believe that it was also because he wanted to be close to MC, but he'd never asked Saeran if he was another reason for staying close. MC guessed the answer was no... even though they were best friends, MC was just as well a fuck buddy than anything to Saeran... it's not that the red-haired boy didn't care about MC, he just probably thought nothing too much of their relationship.

MC leaned his bike against the side of the house and then knocked on the door. Seconds after his knuckles had hit the wood, the door was opened quickly and Saeran was right there, eyes hooded with need, smelling like chips and beer. His tall, thin but fit frame filled the doorway, and MC just about lost himself in Saeran's malted golden eyes, those pink lips- His thought were interrupted as Saeran reached forward, grabbing MC by the collar of is sweater and pulling him inside, shutting the door and then immediately pushing MC against it, quickly attaching their lips in a desperate, drunk kiss.

Saeran was usually drunk when they fucked, to be honest. MC didn't usually take it personally, but assumed that the only reason he was called on was when Saeran had a rough day, or something happened with Saeyoung, his twin brother.

"Bad day?" MC grunted in between kisses, rolling his eyes.

"Shut up," Saeran replied, kissing harder.

Eventually they made their way up to Saeran's bedroom, shutting the door behind them. Saeran pushed MC down onto the bed and began kissing and biting his neck, running his hands up MC's sides, up under his shirt.

MC lost himself in bliss...

...

Saeran glanced over at MC as he pulled his pants back on. MC was wincing as he sat down on the edge of the bed, eyes squinted at the pain from his ass.

"How am I supposed to bike home now," he mumbled, and stood stiffly, naked and irritated at how hard Saeran went today.

"Whoops," Saeran replied, and winked.

"Thanks for taking your emo, pent-up depressed emotions out on my ass, it's a real reminder of how much you care about my well-being."

"Anytime, sweetheart," Saeran mocked, and threw MC's underwear at him.

MC looked over at Saeran, looking hard at the graceful curve of Saeran's bare back, muscles in his shoulders flexing as he lifted his red tank top over his head, then disappearing under a black hoodie.

MC looked at himself in the mirror and scoffed, poking at the bite-marks Saeran had left on his neck, "I thought we said no more of these," he commented softly, even though he secretly loved them.

"Whoops," Saeran said again, unapologetic and vague, as usual.

Grinning, MC was tempted to kiss Saeran goodbye, as a 'joke', but thought against it at the last second.

"Bye then," he murmured, and walked downstairs. 

 


	2. 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> uhhhh first symptoms and a hang out with the gang... crackin a cold one with the boys

MC woke up choking.

He couldn't breath, something was in his throat. Heaving, he flung his sweaty sheets off him and rushed to the bathroom, face turning red. Clutching his throat, MC gagged, leaning over the toilet, coughing until whatever it was flew from his lips and landed in the water.

Recovering his breath, MC looked down, and was suddenly bewildered. Floating on the surface of the water was what looked like a petal, wet from his mouth, but still crisp and in a slight bowl-shape. The petal was yellow, and had a light orange rim around the tip.

Wiping his mouth on his arm, MC stared at the petal, confused. Shaking his head, he flushed the toilet, "I've gotta be dreaming," he whispered, and walked back to his bed, still feeling the taste of the slightly soapy flower on his tongue.

Falling back against his pillow, MC sighed and slipped back to coldsweats.

...

MC woke up two more times that night, coughing up the yellow flower petals. Confused and feeling sick, he refused to go to class the next morning. Though concerned, his mother left him to go to work, murmuring that she'd pick up some medicine for him.

MC laid in bed, staring at the glow-in-the-dark stars that had remained on his ceiling since he was a kid. The five-pointed shapes poked fun at him until he finally got up, knowing that this was not, in fact, a dream, as he had never had a dream so long or real, and with quite as many flower petals.

Throwing himself onto the couch with a bag of chips and his laptop, MC aimlessly looked up 'yellow rose' on Google. The sunny color filled his screen as the images booted up, and MC's thoughts were confirmed.

Scrolling down, he found an explanation of the flower. " _Friendship_." What the actual fuck?

"What's  _wrong_ with me?" he mumbled angrily. It was then that he felt the sensation again, the tickle in his chest, in his throat, smelling pollen and a swollen, sweet-and-spicy smell filled his nose.

Coughing, MC felt the petals in his throat, then promptly coughed them up into the garbage disposal. "Where are these coming from?" he whispered.

MC contemplated calling the hospital, but then imagined the response he would get. "Hello, whats your emergency?" "Uh, yeah, I've been coughing up flower petals?"  _Dead line._

Shaking his head, MC grabbed a bowl for the petals, and sat back down on the couch, settling into Youtube. By noon, the bowl was full of soft, buttery, feathery yellow feathers.

_6:34 pm_

**Saeran: hey, wanna come hang?**

**MC: Sick**

**Saeran: doubt it**

MC could almost hear the sing-song lilt in Saerans text as he read it. Before he could reply,  another text came though.

**Saeran: meet me at my house in 10. ive brought friends, so it wont be just us**

**MC: Friends, huh? You have those?**

**Saeran: shut up**

Sighing, MC got up and changed into a green sweater and grey sweats, tying on his pair of converse, texting his mum (because he was a good son, for her) and hopping on his bike, coughing some flower petals onto the driveway.

...

"Yooo~" Saeran dragged out the syllable as he opened the door to ruffle-headed MC, who gave Saeran an irritable gaze of complacency.

"So where are these friends?" He smirked, but then broke into a grin when Saeran rolled his eyes.

"Oh, c'mon, you know you wanted to come."

"I already had my weekly dose of Saeran; I'm not sure how much more I can take," MC half-joked to the red-head, stepping inside and slipping off his shoes.

"Harharhar," Saeran mumbled dully as they followed the sound of videogame synthetic trumpets and upbeat music into Saeran's living room, where a group of boys sat, laughing and shoving each other with remotes in their hands.

MC recognized Saeran's twin brother, Saeyoung, playing too, red hair and gold eyes like Saeran, but with a permanent mischievous grin on his face and a lighter sense of humor. Next to him, a blonde, who MC recognized from his computers class. The kid was completely energized right now, strangling the controller as he wove through the other Mariokart players.

"Yoosung you little shit!" An older guy with white hair was sitting cross-legged on the floor, a beer next to him, trying desperately to pass the blonde, who MC now new as Yoosung.

Squished on the end of the couch was a man with sharp features, wearing a blue and white varsity jacket, expression amused.

Saeran settled on the couch next to Yoosung and MC sat on the floor, beside the white-haired man.

"Who's this," he asked Saeran, without looking at MC, eyes glued to the screen.

"MC," Saeran replied, and he almost sounded proud.

Later, a teal-haired boy with sunglasses came in, carrying a six-pack of beer. It was a weird kind, organic, and tasted earthy, but MC decided he liked it more than those big brands, with labels and adds all over the place.

...

"Yoosung..." Saeran slurred, leaning against the blonde. Yoosung hiccuped and giggled in a high-pitched voice.

MC lay on Zen's stomach, the white-haired boy, Zen's hands in MC's hair, mumbling something about his beauty.

MC's drunken heart twisted as he watched Saeran bury his face into Yoosung's neck. He couldn't take it anymore. They'd been flirting for ages.

Untangling his legs from V's, he got up, gazing sourly at Saeran before announcing, "I'm gonna go."

"Hmm..." Saeran rumbled, moving closer to Yoosung. Hurt, drunk, and angry, MC walked out of the room, a couple of the boys calling out goodbyes to him. Jumin, the black-haired boy, sipped a glass of wine at the kitchen island, eyeing MC with a cautious glance.

"Be careful with that," he murmured, and MC scoffed.

Frustrated, MC felt flowers at his throat , and coughed once, watching them flutter to the asphalt. Jumin watched discreetly from the kitchen window, knowing that familiar feeling in his throat. 

MC mounted his bike and sped off down the street, the wind lashing at his face, tearing tears from his eyes. He wiped them away furiously. 

" _I'm just a friend_ ," his mind screamed, yelling at his idiocy, making fun of his naivety, laughing at his stupidity of falling in love with Saeran... MC couldn't stop his tears until he arrived home, hastily wiping them with his sweatshirt sleeve before his ever-worrying mother saw them. He skipped dinner, and threw up yellow roses in the bathroom for an hour.


	3. 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> oooh some serious drama and lotssss of angry MC

The next day, MC woke up with the worst hangover imaginable. He stayed home from school, again, and went for a long walk around the block, depositing rose petals on every street. Strangely, MC wasn't worried, or scared, or concerned. It would pass, and if it didn't he would see a doctor. Simple, simple, simple... MC didn't like to worry, he was stressed enough already. A few flower petals weren't going to upset him too much. 

It was 2 weeks later that Saeran invited MC over again. MC, who was still, in fact, upset about the whole Yoosung thing, refused.

**MC: Go fuck yourself**

Saeran didn't reply after that, knowing that MC would get out of his funk soon, and that they'd be able to hang out again, like usual. 

By that night, Saeran was right. MC was coughing up petals and, feeling insanely guilty, texted Saeran an apology, his pride falling out of tact like puzzle pieces.

...

A week later, MC was over at Saeran's again. Saeran handed MC a beer, pressing the cold, unopened can to his forehead as they sat on the couch, air conditioners chugging to keep the hot, late-May drawl out of the house. 

Saeran was shirtless, and MC stole glances at his muscled torso, pale and damp with sweat. 

"MC?" Saeran asked suddenly, eyes flicking to his best friend. 

"Hm?" The younger boy was chugging his beer. 

"I'm dating Yoosung." He said it so calmly, evenly, so level that MC wanted to punch him in the face. Instead, he forcefully swallowed the beer in his mouth and started choking.

" _Oh fuck, not now_ ," MC pleaded, and took another swig of beer to keep the flower petals down. 

"Dating?" He wheezed, recovering. 

"Yeah." Saeran looked sheepish.

"Oh." MC's heart felt as if it had been torn from his chest, thrown to the ground, and stepped on. "Oh," he said again, not having anything else to say. His chest hurt. 

"So I think we should stop hooking up. I don't want Yoosung to get upset."

 _Of course, Yoosung-_  "Okay." Mc's voice was small, and his fingers clenched the hem of his shirt. 

"Well are you gonna say anything else?" Saeran seemed upset.

Why was he upset? MC's eyes hardened. Who gave him the right to be upset right now? He wasn't the one left heartbroken, helpless. 

"What else am I supposed to say?" MC said breezily, not looking at Saeran.

"Fucking- Just leave, MC, if you're that upset about it. Shit, I thought you'd be happy for me."

MC felt tears bubble to his closed eyelids, and then he was rushing to the bathroom, puking beer and flower petals into Saeran's toilet, tears rushing down his face now as he gasped for breath, then stomach and lungs lurching as he coughed up more petals, arms shaking as he kneeled, and Saeran was behind him, laughing nervously, cursing, not seeing the flowers in the bowl, telling MC how he was just like Yoosung, who apparently couldn't even hold one beer. 

MC didn't want to hear about Yoosung. As far as he was concerned, Yoosung could go rot. But of course he didn't mean that, because boys like him didn't tell their best friends that they thought their boyfriends could go to hell, or that they were simply jealous. No, boys like him were cowards who clung to the thought of someone loving them back, and not just any someone, but the someone who was taken and that knew them the best. If only he wasn't so slow to realize that Saeran was falling for someone else...

Who were they kidding? Having sex every month, pretending that everything was okay between the two of them? MC was tired of this platonic bullshit. He could make Saeran happy, couldn't he? MC couldn't breath very well. Shit, he didn't bring his inhaler either. Saeran was still talking.

MC felt the flower petals dropping off his tongue, and tasted the sour taste of bile along with charred beer. He tasted Saeran's lips faintly as he remembered all the times that they'd kissed, all the time's they'd laid together, stared into each other's dark eyes, MC holding on for just a little too long as he fell in love with the only friend he'd ever had. 

He saw Saeran in his head, blowing out the candles on a birthday cake that Saeyoung and MC had made for him, how his eyes had twinkled with gratitude and happiness, emotions that rarely appeared on his sharp features. Beautiful in the darkness when MC slept over, the refrigerator light illuminating Saeran's slim silhouette as he tossed MC a can of coke, cherry, and they shared a bag of Honey Buddha Chips, laughing at poorly-edited horror movies.

He remembered their first kiss at that party, MC against the door, Saeran's eyes twinkling as he leaned in, lips so soft that MC melted, his soft touch growing rougher as they laid back against the bed- MC stopped himself. 

They were  _best friends_. And now MC was losing Saeran, losing him to a boy who was prettier, funnier than MC, a boy who Saeran loved more that the feel of MC beside him. MC felt his place beside Saeran's thrown slipping, falling into a trapdoor that nobody knew about, and his back was stabbed as he began to understand that he was to walk these streets alone from now on. He was slipping from Saeran... 

Flowers bloomed from his lips, making it harder to breath. And then Saeran was beside him, eyes concerned and then wide as a black rose bloomed from MC's mouth, his back arching in pain as a stem followed, thorns catching on his lips, mouth, throat,  _heart_. 

MC couldn't breath as he realized he'd never taste Saeran's lips again. He felt Saeran's hand on his back, and his voice was worried. MC couldn't hear him. Saeran's high voice yelled into the phone, and MC spluttered, face turning red as he choked. His vision went dark, and even then he couldn't breath. Saeran was screaming his name...


	4. 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> hospital and a tiny twist end.

White. Empty. MC's mouth was sore, and it felt like cotton. His chest hurt. It felt light. The sheets he lay in smelled like lemons. Strong. Sharp. Hospital. MC could not feel his arms or legs. He heard is heartbeat. Quiet and steady. He felt it's calm pulse. MC felt confused, but let his thoughts drifting away. " _It'll be okay_." He relaxed.

...

"MC?" A low voice. Rumble. A hand on his wrist. "MC?" Voice tried again. Not today... I'm tired. MC felt the ache in his chest again. He felt hollow.

...

A mumble. "It's been a few days, sir. You should go home. His parents are here." "I'm not leaving." That was that then... rumble, rumble. The hand again. "MC?" A sigh.

...

MC finally opened his eyes to the sight of flower petals. He smiled. He did not remember that he had been coughing petals up only 4 days ago. He did not remember the significance of yellow roses. He did not remember that he had been in love with his best friend.

MC's mother slept in a chair beside his bed, head leaning back against the wall as daybreak fell through the sole window. MC smiled again, not worried. He didn't remember from anything after Hanahaki disease had hit him. MC's brain idled as he struggled to remember why he was here. What day was it? What had happened? Why did his chest hurt, and why was his mouth swollen? MC pressed the button on his IV for more morphine, and sat back against his pillows as he waited for his mother to wake up.

...

Saeran entered the hospital room slowly. MC was sitting up in bed, his mother talking to him softly, kind eyes deep with sorrow, bowls of black underneath them, a combination of smudged mascara and lack of sleep.

MC looked pale, paler than Saeran, his brown hair messy, ruffled. Saeran could still picture the black roses bubbling and blooming out of MC's mouth, but he had said nothing. During the surgery, doctors had been dumbfounded to find that a yellow rose had taken root in MC's lungs, and they had promptly removed it.

An unknown source had paid the hospital a large sum of money to keep the phenomenon quiet. Only the surgeons and Saeran, who had hacked into the hospital's security system knew about the of the wonder in MC's lungs.

Saeran walked into the room quietly, and MC looked up from his mother.

"Saeran," he beamed softly, eyes tired. Saeran smiled back, and MC's mother got up, taking it as her cue to leave the room.

Saeran decided against telling MC about his lungs. His best friend didn't remember anything... and it was better to keep it that way. Saeran would never know that MC had loved him either.

Somewhere across the city, Jumin looked at V as the photographer snapped pictures of clouds over the mountaintops. The cold, emotionless Jumin looked away as he coughed out a flower petal.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you so much for reading ;) I started this on wattpad and it got some attention, so I thought I'd post it here too, hope you liked it!


End file.
